Reports: Weston McKennie rejects Juventus’ latest contract extension offer

One of the biggest issues (amongst the many) that Cristiano Giuntoli has been tasked with since joining the club last summer has been to rein in the club’s bloated payroll. Sure, Juventus still has the highest-paid roster in Serie A this season, but Giuntoli has contiuned the trend of cutting salaries and trying to lower costs as he looks to rebuild the roster in the coming years.

Weston McKennie appears to be finding that out the hard way.

Juventus’ Texas-born midfielder has unquestionably been one of the Bianconeri’s best players this season and has seen his representatives engage in contract extension talks as a result of that. The problem, however, Giuntoli isn’t necessarily budging from the €2.5 million net salary McKennie currently earns, according to reports from TuttoJuve’s Mriko Di Natale and others over the last couple of days, and it has in turn been an offer that has been rejected by the American’s representatives.

The result, as one might expect, could result in McKennie back on the transfer market just like we saw at the start of last summer before he was worked back into the squad by Max Allegri right before Juventus headed on their preseason tour.

Of course, if McKennie is going to be somebody who is potentially moving clubs this summer, it will be under very different kinds of conditions and likely value than what we saw a year ago.

It wasn’t so long ago that McKennie was coming back from his turbulent six-month spell at Leeds United — one in which the team went through three different managers and then got relegated to the Championship — and his career essentially at a crossroads of sorts. He looked to be out of the Juve squad, with his departure seemingly inevitable as long as the club could find a deal that they felt was right. But as that was happening, McKennie was on a flight to the United States with the rest of his Juve teammates, and the chances of him sticking around suddenly became a whole lot greater than they were when he first reported back for preseason training.

It’s fair to say he’s taken advantage of that second chance at Juventus.

In what has proven to be one of the best seasons of his still-young career, the 25-year-old McKennie has recorded 10 assists in all competitions and quickly established himself as one of the top options both in the center of the midfield and out on the right wing as a wingback in Allegri’s 3-5-2. The only thing really missing from McKennie’s portfolio this season has been an ever-elusive goal. (The last time he scored was on Oct. 25, 2022, against Benfica in the Champions League group stage.)

You can understand both sides of this whole standoff of sorts. It’s totally understandable as to why Juventus might not want to give McKennie a long-term extension considering the financial constraints in which the club is under. But you can also totally understand why McKennie feels like he deserves an improved contract with the way he has played as one of the best and most consistent performers this season.

McKennie’s current contract runs through 2025.